A WEST Australian parliamentary inquiry into the mental health of FIFO miners has heard how mental health challenges are unique and complex, but not necessarily more prevalent among fly-in, fly-out miners than other Australian workforces.

In its submission to the Western Australia Legislative Assembly – Education and Health Standing Committee – Inquiry into mental health impacts of FIFO work arrangements, national resource employer group AREEA pointed to objective data revealing mental illness and self-harm appears to be no more prevalent in the mining workforce than other industries.

According to the submission, however, resource employers remained acutely aware of the unique challenges associated with FIFO work arrangements and proactively implement a range of initiatives to protect the mental well-being of their workforce, including:

• Entertainment and recreational facilities on-site;
• Family-friendly work days;
• Counselling and support services for financial, relationship and career advice;
• Mental health presentations and seminars; and
• Health and lifestyle co-ordinators to promote worker well-being.

With a growing awareness that mental health is a paramount issue among not only FIFO workforces, but all Australian resource employees, AREEA chief executive Steve Knott said such initiatives were common in the mining, oil and gas sectors.

“One suicide in the resource sector or broader community is one too many,” Mr Knott said.

“Resource employers are committed to promoting awareness and embedding fit-for-purpose, risk-based policies and procedures to protect the safety of their workforces.

“While we note from the experiences of employers and employees that there is no causal link between FIFO work practices and mental illness or self-harm, this is an area where we need to remain forever vigilant and continue to improve awareness and communication.”

Notwithstanding this, Mr Knott said there are a range of unique factors to FIFO work that must be acknowledged and managed by employers as part of their ‘whole-of-business’ mental health and workplace safety policies and initiatives.

“Proper mitigation strategies need to be considered to ensure risks to workers are reduced to the greatest extent possible. Other risks such as fatigue and drug and alcohol use are those which employers continuously monitor and address,” Mr Knott said.

“A common theme of feedback is that FIFO work is not for everyone, and resource employers go to great lengths in the recruitment stage to ensure people’s suitability to enter this lifestyle.”

The submission outlined some of these pre-employment strategies, which included:

• psychometric testing;
• health and medical checks;
• open discussion between jobseekers and human resource managers about the challenges of FIFO work; and
• distribution of booklets and brochures about managing FIFO work arrangements.

AREEA’s submission also reiterated that FIFO work practices are essential for numerous projects in the Australian resource industry that may otherwise be commercially unviable, highlighting a need for sensible and informed policy-making in this area.

Click here to read AREEA’s submission to the WA inquiry into the mental health impacts of FIFO work.